Improving Navy Women's Health: Preventing Smoking Relapse After Recruit Training
Abstract
Smoking is a modifiable behavior that is negatively related to women%s health and physical readiness, and is a behavior that increases the burden on military health care systems. This behavior is of particular concern to the DoD because military women are more likely to smoke than their civilian counterparts and because women have greater difficulty quitting than do men. The present study, funded by the Defense Women's Health Research Program (DWHRP), tested an innovative approach to reducing smoking among Navy women by evaluating two different relapse-prevention interventions that support maintenance of the "quit status" organizationally mandated during basic training. Women smokers (n=3 ,O3 6) were assigned either to a control group or one of two intervention groups at entry into basic training. One intervention group was encouraged to access a telephone helpline for counseling to remain a nonsmoker; the other group received a series of monthly mailings. Analysis of smoking rates at 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-graduation were completed to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions in maintaining the "cold turkey" smoking cessation induced during recruit training. At each of the assessment points post recruit training, quit rates were higher than expected "spontaneous" quit rates, indicating an impact of the totally smoke-free recruit training environment. However, there were no phone or mail intervention effects, suggesting the need for stronger efforts to lower smoking rates among military personnel.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA370229
Entities
People
- Terry L. Conway
Organizations
- University of California, San Diego